HILLARY STEEL

Hillary Steel (b. 1959, New York, New York) attended The State University of New York at Buffalo (BA 1980). Since graduation, she has continued her study of textiles through both post-baccalaureate coursework at SUNY, Buffalo (1980-1981 and 1986-1988), and travels to Cote d'Ivoire with Drew University, Madison, New Jersey (1992), and to Peru and Chile (1999). She also studied teaching at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore (MA 1997). Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, Rockville, Maryland (2002, 1999); Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, New Castle, Pennsylvania (1995); the Rosewood Centre Arts Gallery, Kettering, Ohio; and has been shown in numerous group exhibitions in such venues as the Artists' Museum, Washington, D.C. (2003), and Snyderman/Works Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2002, 2001, 2000). Her work is also held by several public collections including that of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

"Like any of the communicative arts, textiles reflect aesthetic principles -- balance, symmetry, movement, rhythm -- which are also common to music and language. Like all cultural expressions, cloth embodies a complex creative process as well as the culmination of generations of dyeing and weaving practices. Consequently, its very structure, in addition to the imagery and color of its surface design, offers a multitude of messages, metaphor and history to its viewer. I have been greatly influenced by these textile traditions, and specifically by the resist dye processes of Asia, the Americas, and Western Africa."

Hillary Steel Set of Six, 2002 Ikat and shibori on handwoven cotton 28 x 24 in. (71.1 x 61 cm) Courtesy of the artist, Silver Spring, Maryland     Hillary Steel Current Events (detail), 2001 Handwoven newspaper and cotton 32 x 32 in. (81.3 x 81.3 cm) overall Courtesy of the artist, Silver Spring, Maryland     Hillary Steel Maternity, 1998 Shibori dyeing, silkscreen on silk 106 x 56 x 24 in. (269.2 x 142.2 x 61 cm) Courtesy of the artist, Silver Spring, Maryland

Hillary Steel
A Girl's Spirit Flees... Returns
a Woman's, 1990
Warp ikat, handwoven cotton,
rayon and silk
102 x 102 in. (259.1 x 259.1 cm)
Courtesy of the artist, Silver Spring, Maryland
 
 

Hillary Steel
Many Moons, 2002
Ikat and shibori on handwoven cotton
90 x 80 in. (228.6 x 203.2 cm)
Courtesy of the artist, Silver Spring, Maryland
 
 

Hillary Steel
Untitled Arrangement, 2000
Ikat and shibori on handwoven cotton
60 x 36 x 1 in. (152.4 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm)
Courtesy of the artist, Silver Spring, Maryland

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